Tribute to a Soldier...

My class...

Yes, they are scary!

A couple of Fridays ago, I took my students to the funeral of a 19-year-old soldier who was killed in Iraq just the week before. Christian Neff was taken by a roadside bomb. He lived in the Cridersville/Shawnee area, and was a fairly recent graduate of Apollo Career Center. I personally have never been to a military funeral, and it was so touching to see the outpouring of love and support from our community, and the rest of the U.S. Motorcycle groups came from all over and surrounded the church with large American flags to shield the family from the protesters who were scheduled to be demonstrating across the street. The director of the U.S. Cavalry came to represent our government, and presented the family with all of Christian's medals, including the Purple Heart. As I watched middle-aged, decorated military men lean over the casket and sob, I began to realize what a camaraderie these men share. We, as civilians, cannot imagine the bond that war brings to our guys. They depend on each other for their lives. After the funeral, the congregation exited the church and followed the hearse down the path to the burial plot. It was a pretty long walk, accompanied by bagpipers playing hymns.

As I listened to Taps and heard the shots of the guns saluting a fallen soldier, I was reminded that this war began shortly after Evan was born. He is now in 1st grade. As the mother of two boys in a world that will never find peace, they may choose to defend our freedoms as Christian did. In a report for school that Christian wrote at about age 12, he stated, "I want to be a soldier, even though I know I may die. I would die for my country." Wow. My prayer as a parent has been, "God, give me the strength to continually dedicate my children to your service, whether that includes a heathen mission field or a dusty war zone." Those are hard words to say, and even much more difficult to really mean. I guess this gives us all something to think about.

Thank you, Christian, Mr. and Mrs. Neff, and all of the others who have sacrificed so much to protect our country!